Education

The informatics man

Article Abstract:

Mike Fourman is credited with having the vision that brought together the departments of computer sciences, epistemics and robotics at Edinburgh University in 1996 to form the informatics department. Fourman, who considers himself to be a computer scientist, believes that informatics is the science of the 21st century, concerning as it does, the storage, processing and communication of information. He contends that it will offer up new understanding of organisation and process in computational, social, cognitive and biological system and may even provide an answer for the question " What is mind?".

All quiet on the quantum front

Article Abstract:

Pioneering research into creating artificial black holes for capturing sound is presented. Technical details of reproducing black hole phenomena in the laboratory are described, including the necessity to reduce the speed of light to one centimeter per second.

E-culture marches on

Article Abstract:

Issues concerning e-science, that is science done through distributed global collaborations via the Internet, are discussed. In particular the UK government's funding commitment to such projects is examined.